Adventuring in Avon

Fall in Connecticut – what a great time of year! I’ve been through the

Top L to R: Four Seasons Necklace,
Autumn Acorn Necklace
Bottom: Harvest Moon Bracelet

state at other times of the year, but I’d never stayed in any particular city and I’d not spent any time exploring. This year I got to participate in the Fall Foliage Bead Retreat in Avon, Connecticut. This event is led by Amy Blevins; each year she brings nationally known beading instructors in for a few days of playing in the beads. This year the instructors were Nancy Cain, Laura McCabe, and Melissa Grakowsky-Shippee. We began two necklaces and a bracelet. I’m still not finished with any of them, but I’m enjoying the work.










Avon is a small town not far from Hartford, Connecticut; it’s historic and picturesque. The townsfolks value their setting to such an extent that in

Fall foliage

the 1960s they rejected a proposal for an interstate highway to come through their city. Settled in 1645, Avon was initially a part of Farmington, but as more and more folks moved into the Northington parish, this separate town was established. By 1750 a Congregational Church was created and headed by Ebenezer Booge, a pastor who had graduated from the Yale Divinity School. Forty years later another pastor, Reverend Rufus Hawley, began purchasing books for the purpose of creating a community library. It took another eight years for this to become a reality. The Avon Free Public Library began serving the community from the home of Samuel Bishop with 111 titles in the collection. Because of the town’s location near the Farmington Canal, it was hoped that Avon would become a center for industrial growth, but the expansion never occurred, leaving Avon a rather pretty suburb of Hartford.






Another flurry of growth occurred in the early 1900s when Theodate Pope Riddle came to the area to establish Avon Old Farms School. She was

Fall foilage

the first licensed female architect in Connecticut. With a vision of the old New England farm and design inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, she spent 10 years and $7,000,000 designing and supervising the building the school. Sitting on 900 acres, the school provided a mixture of English and American secondary school traditions supporting a rather modern curriculum for young men. With the beginnings of World War II, the students were sent home and the school was converted to the Old Farms Convalescent Hospital for blinded Army veterans. Once the war ended, the school reopened in 1948. It continues to provide education for 9^th through 12^th grade and postgraduate boys, upholding the motto ‘Aspirando et Perseverando’, to aspire and persevere.

Where I Stayed:

Four carrots

Avon Old Farms Hotel (279 Avon Mountain Rd, Avon, CT 06001, 860-677-1651) is, on one hand, a cozy hotel with very nice, large rooms. It also has an ‘annex’ that reminds me a bit of any mid-scale motel you’d

L to R: Bathroom, Bedroom

care to name. I stayed in the hotel section since I’d not been there before and had no idea what the annex might be like or how far it was from the beading rooms. The hotel had a very nice lobby with lots of comfortable couches. This was also the site of the free breakfast – actually some coffee, juice, yogurt, and muffins. There is also room service, a restaurant, and a bar for your dining pleasure. My room had a king-sized bed with a canopy, plenty of seating space for working or relaxing, a nice bathroom with ample toiletries, and enough bandwidth for the internet to work adequately. The room and bathroom were clean, and there were chocolates on my pillow every evening. I’d surely stay there again.

Where We Ate:

Four carrots

Market Place Kitchen and Bar (336 W Main St, Avon, CT 06001, 860-470-3641) is an upscale restaurant with a trendy menu. The foods

Top L to R: Menu logo, Breads
Bottom: Flat bread

prepared are locally grown, so the menu changes frequently. We began with some homemade bread and dipping sauce; this was a good beginning. For my dinner, I had the Prosciutto di Parma flatbread which came with Goat Cheese, Fig Marmalade, Arugula, and a Pomegranate Reduction; it was very good with just the right ratio of cheese to marmalade, and a tangy vinegary sauce. Service wasn’t what I expected for a not particularly busy time of day; our server was quite scarce throughout the meal. This is definitely a place I’d return to for another meal.

Three and one-half carrots

The Elephant Trail (85 E Main St, Avon, CT 06001, 860-677-0065) was happy to see a party of eight women for dinner. We did call ahead so that

Top L to R: Menu logo, Pineapple fried rice
Bottom L to R: Lettuce wrap, Pad Thai

they could have a table ready. This is billed as a, ‘Relaxed dining space serving traditional Thai dishes in a warm atmosphere, plus lunch specials.’ And it was a comfortable place to have a meal. I’m a bit jaded about Thai food since we have one of the best in the world near my house. I found the Pad Thai too sweet and without the crunch of fresh bean sprouts. However, the ladies who ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice loved their meal, as did the ladies who ordered curry. We did share the lettuce wraps; they were very good with plenty of meat, a tasty sauce, and crunchy noodles. Service was good, even with a large group, and prices were reasonable.

There are actually two restaurants at the hotel, the Seasons and the Tap

Top: Menu logo
Bottom: Ham and cheese sandwich

Room (279 Avon Mountain Rd, Avon, CT 06001, 860-677-1651). While the food was thoroughly good at both, service was a bit sketchy. I went to dinner with a group of ladies, and after telling the waitress that some of us were on a short time line, we had delightful service in a timely manner. Other folks who ate at these restaurants experienced long wait-times, and much less helpful servers. For my dinner, I selected the Coppa Ham and Cheese Sandwich with fries. I was completely happy with this choice. The bread on the sandwich was fresh, the ham tasty, and the cheese melted and creamy. The fries were crunchy on the outside and soft inside; they also had a slightly spicy seasoning that made me smile. Prices were what you’d expect at a resort – a bit high. This kitchen also produced the buffets we had during the bead retreat. They provided high quality meals with fresh produce in more than adequate quantities. Their desserts were outstanding.

There are several more restaurants in the area, what appear to be some interesting shops, and the fall foliage was lovely; I would like to return to this little town for a further bit of exploration. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.

Decorative squash

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